


A Guide to Coming Out

by sunkelles



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: 5+1 Things, Asexual Zay Babineaux, Bisexual Farkle Minkus, Bisexual Lucas Friar, Coming Out, Crack, Everyone is Queer, F/F, Femslash, Humor, Lesbian Maya Hart, M/M, Pansexual Riley Matthews, Slash, The bi boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5435234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Farkle, Lucas, Maya, Riley and Zay discovered that they weren't straight. Plus one character who actually was straight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Guide to Coming Out

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of studying for my final. I'm a bad adult.
> 
> No sex, but a lot of talk of different orientations. Cursing.
> 
> Last note: the last one happens years in the future, and is just really, really cracky. Hope you enjoy. THE FORCE AWAKENS WAS AMAZING I'M SORRY FOR THE JOKE

 

 

 

 

1. 

 

 

 

Farkle has always just assumed that he was straight. He liked Riley, and then he liked Maya, and then two kind of overlapped. Eventually, both sets of attraction died down, but then Isadora happened. He really, really liked Isadora. That's three girls. 

 

Three girls he's liked in his lifetime. But then, the summer between eighth grade and ninth grade, he and Isadora fell out. But still, he's liked three girls. That means that he's straight, right? That has to mean that he's straight. 

 

And he, off course, being the sad, dumped person he was, ended up spending more time with his best friend. Time at the pool, without shirts, looking at Lucas's finely chiseled chest. And well, it just sort of does things to him. Add that to the fact that Lucas is his best friend, and has been for forever, well. Farkle ends up smitten. 

 

Okay, so he's attracted to his best friend. That's a thing. But Farkle knows that he's not gay, because he felt similar things for Isadora. People are supposed to be straight or gay, aren't they? Isn't that some sort of unspoken dichotomy? He turns to the Internet for help. 

 

He feels stupid, but he just googles, "when you like guys and girls." That directs him to a YouTube video for the song "Blur" and a stupid Facebook page that he can tell on sight won't be helpful. He switches up his approach and searches, "sexual attraction to guys and girls" which again, doesn't pull up any useful results. Farkle knows his prefixes, so he takes a shot in the dark and tries bisexual. This search yields the results that he was looking for. It turns out that attraction to multiple genders exists, and wow, that's a relief. There was a part of him that was afraid he was an anomaly, a freak of nature. But he's not, he's just bisexual, 

 

Farkle Minkus is bisexual. Farkle Minkus is bisexual, and he's never felt more sure of anything before in his life. He reads the entire article, and reads the rest of what he can find on the topic as well, encountering a plethora of words and concepts, a wealth of knowledge just like he likes. He knows that he'll be doing research on this for the rest of the summer, at least. 

 

He supposes that he'll need to come out to his friends. He thinks that Riley's "End of Summer Bash" will probably be the best time for that. 

* * *

 

2. 

 

 

 

Riley's "End of Summer Bash" isn't really any different than any other party she ever has. It's just the five of them, with movies, snacks and board games, and her parents go upstairs to give the kids the illusion of being alone. 

 

Farkle has been acting weird lately. Lucas almost thinks that the other boy is avoiding him. That hurts, coming from his best friend. Maybe he's still torn up about his breakup with Isadora. Lucas never tells Farkle this, but he thinks that he's better off without Isadora. Lucas always got an unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach when he saw them together, which he assumed was his gut telling him that something was up. 

 

It kind of reminds him of when Maya was hanging around other guys when they are almost a thing, but he pushes the comparison away. He hasn't thought about the possibility that he liked a guy since sixth grade. There's no use starting up again now. Lucas knows that he's not gay. 

 

He's torn from his thoughts when Farkle turns off the TV.

 

"Hey!" Zay shouts, "I was watching that!" 

"The Mets are winning, Farkle!" Riley exclaims, sounding every bit as indignant as Zay.

"Guys," Lucas says, "lay off him." 

"I kind of," Farkle says, looking awkwardly at his hands, "I wanted to tell you guys something." 

"Well," Maya prompts, "what is it?" 

"I'm bi," he says. 

"You're what what?" Zay asks, sounding just as eloquent as ever. 

"I'm bisexual. I like girls," Farkle says.

"Okay," Zay says, "good for you?" 

"I like guys too," Farkle says, his face turning red as a cherry. Lucas feels like someone's just dumped a bucket of ice water on his head, like that time Riley made them all do the Ice Bucket Challenge. 

"Wait," Lucas asks, "that's-that's a thing? You can like both?" 

"Yes," Farkle says, "I'm living proof." Lucas gets sudden flashbacks to sixth grade, and anger boils inside of him.

"Zay!" Lucas growls. Zay doesn't flinch, because he's used to these sorts of moods from Lucas.

"What did I do this time," Zay asks, sarcastically but also fearfully. He knows that this won't end well for him.

"Remember back in sixth grade," Lucas says, "when you said that I couldn't like Billy Payne?" 

"Um," Zay says, "yes?" 

"You said that since I liked Jessica Jackson then I couldn't like him. Because that meant I wasn't gay." 

"You actually liked Billy Payne," Zay finishes, finally catching onto the other boy's drift. 

"What is going on?" Riley whispers to Maya. 

"I think huckleberry just came out too," Maya stage-whispers back, "two gays for the price of one." 

"Bi one get one free," Riley says with a shit-eating grin. Farkle sends a confused, but almost hopeful look Lucas's way. 

"Is that what you're doing, Lucas? Coming out?" He asks.

"Yeah," Lucas says. His confidence is slightly shaky, but he knows this. Deep down he's always known it. 

"I'm bi too," he says, and Farkle's face lights up like the night sky on the Fourth of July. 

"When school starts," Farkle says, "we're going to GSA." 

"Farkle," Lucas says, "I don't know what that acronym means." 

"Gay Straight Alliance," he says, "it's a club at the high school."

"We're not gay, or straight," he says. It sounds weird to say that out loud, that thing he's suspected for years. Farkle rolls his eyes.

"Bi boys are invited too." Farkle says. 

"Well if you guys are going," Riley says, "then so am I." 

"You're not gay either," Lucas says.

"But I am straight," Riley says, "and that just so happens to be in the name." 

"Riley," Maya says, sounding exasperated. 

"No," Farkle says, "it would be.. _fun_. If we all went." 

"Alright," Maya says, "whatever." 

"Are you in, Zay?" Riley asks. 

"Do I have any choice?" He asks. 

"Nope," Lucas says. Riley makes them all hold hands in some sort of friendship circle, and Lucas realizes that this, these friends of his, are the real deal. His hand meets Farkle's, and it sends an electric shock through him. He wonders if the other boy feels it too. 

 

 

* * *

 

3. 

 

 

 

Lucas and Farkle fall into each other's arms before September is over, and Maya can't say that she's surprised. They've acted even gayer than normal around each other since coming out. 

 

Maya's just afraid that someone will try to hurt them, make fun of them, beat them up, and drag their names through the dirt. That's what Maya's always been afraid of, that and losing Riley. But months pass, and nothing even happens. Some people make unpleasant comments, sure, but nothing life-changing happens. 

 

No one is violently homophobic, and the GSA provides such a nice, comforting atmosphere. The core five end up being a fifth of the GSA, and the entire incoming freshmen class. A few girls flirt with her while she's there, and it twists her stomach into knots. 

"I'm straight," she lies, "I'm just here for Larkle." The girl rolls her eyes, but lets it lie. Maya can tell that the girl saw right through her. 

 

By Christmas, Maya's tried of hiding and ready to give this coming out thing a chance. She's tried to hide the fact that she's gay for years. She even tried to date Lucas to make herself straight, which was one of the biggest disasters she's ever experienced in her life. But now, she feels like her friends will accept her. She feels like she'd be happier, standing in the sunshine, out and proud about the way that she was born. 

 

She thinks that she's ready to join the club, for real. She wants to be the "G" not someone pretending to be the "S". 

 

The last time someone (or someones) came out, it was at a party of Riley's. Maya decides that she might as well make it a tradition. 

 

Riley sets up a Secret Santa exchange for the five of them, and they meet up at her house on the twenty first for a Christmas party. Maya brings her gift for Zay which is a new football and a bottle of Mountain Dew. 

 

Zay opens his gift first, and he freaks out when sees the two liter bottle of Mountain Dew. 

"Do you know who yours was?" Riley asks. 

"Um," he says, "Farkle maybe?" Maya laughs at that. 

"Nope," Farkle says. 

"Maya?" Zay asks, cautiously. 

"Yup," Maya tells him. Zay opens up the bottle, and starts to drink right out of it.

"What the heck, man?" Lucas asks, because hell is too strong and dirty of a word for him. 

"I'm drinking this whole bottle tonight," Zay says, "just so y'all know." 

"I hope you know," Maya says in a very serious voice, "it's filled with piss." Zay looks terrified for a moment, but then he glares at her. Riley and Farkle are both laughing.

"It was sealed when you gave it to me," he says, sounding as if he's trying to convince himself.

"Keep telling yourself that," she says. Zay looks cautiously back to the bottle, but ends up taking another sip. Apparently, he's decided it tastes good enough that it can't be piss. Either that, or he doesn't care anymore.

 

Farkle opens up his present next, and he finds Lucas's jacket, the one that he always steals. 

"I wonder who my Secret Santa could be," Farkle dead-pans. Lucas busts up. Then he notices that Farkle isn't grinning, and he frowns. 

"Dude," he asks, "what's wrong?"

"I didn't want you to _give_ it to me," he says, sounding exasperated. 

"What?" Lucas asks, "why? I thought that you liked it?" 

"Yeah," Farkle says, "cause it smells like you." Lucas blushes as red as his shirt. Riley says awe, and Zay makes a gagging noise. 

"Too much information," Zay says, loudly. 

"Then what do you want?" Lucas demands. 

"A yacht," Farkle suggests. Lucas groans. 

"Something within the fifteen dollar limit?" He asks. 

"Get me coffee tomorrow and we'll call it even," Farkle says. 

 

Lucas goes next, and opens up an array of candies. 

"Riley," he says, and Riley giggles. 

"You got me," she says. Lucas, who is an athlete and doesn't feel comfortable eating that much candy, passes it around the circle. Maya takes out a box of strawberry nerds, and shoves some into her mouth. 

 

Riley goes next, and she opens up her present. She finds a Mets cap and a stuffed, purple cat. 

"Oh my god!" She shouts. Her eyes grow as wide as moons. Zay grins like a loon, and Maya knows who Riley's Secret Santa was. Riley does too, apparently. 

"Zay," she says, "I thought you hated the Mets?" 

"You don't," he says, as if that's all that matters. Riley hugs him, and Zay grins. Maya grits her teeth. She knows that she doesn't have any room to be jealous. Riley is straight, but her cozying up to their only guy friend who's single really isn't something Maya wants to see. It rubs salt all over a wound that has been slowly getting infected over the course of many years. 

"It's your turn, Maya," Farkle prompts. Maya takes a deep breath. She planned it this way. She was going to let the party play out normally, and then come out when it was her turn. 

 

It was going to be simple. Well, now Maya's internalized homophobia is rearing it's ugly head and she's not sure that she can. She opens up the package, and greeted by the sight of an enormous set of rainbow colored pencils. She's sure that Farkle didn't intend it to be a euphemism, but Maya starts laughing. Hysterically. 

 

"Um," Riley asks, "Maya?" 

"Is this your way of saying that you hate the gift?" Farkle asks. Maya gets herself under control, to the point where she's just giggling. 

"Sorry," she says, "it's just. They're rainbow." 

"Um," Farkle says, "that's just how colored pencils are made." 

"It's just," Maya says, all of her fears suddenly melting away with her good humor, "I was going to come out as gay. And then you gave me fucking rainbow pencils." Farkle cracks a smile at that. 

"What?" Zay asks, "how many of us are going to be gay?" 

"Well I'm straight," Riley says, "and you're straight. So that just makes three." Maya groans internally at the exchange, but hopes that it doesn't show on her face. Lucas looks thoroughly confused. 

"You're bi gay," Lucas asks, "right?"

"No," Maya clarifies, "lesbian gay." Lucas looks down right insulted, which makes Maya start laughing again. 

"So, you never liked me?" He looks a little torn up about it, and Farkle doesn't look particularly happy with either of them.

"No," Maya says, "sorry, Lucas." And she is. She shouldn't have tried to date him, but she was younger and she wanted to try to make herself straight. It didn't work. At all. 

"Alright," Riley says, "how about we play a board game. Monopoly?" Everyone agrees to it, if only to get out of the awkward hole that Maya's dug them. 

 

Riley deals out all of the money, and then she wraps a blanket and an arm around Maya. Nothing has changed between them, for better or for worse. 

 

 

* * *

4. 

 

 

Spring comes quickly, and the bitter cold air starts to warm. Spring brings changes. Maya starts dating a girl from GSA. To put it more accurately, Maya is going on the occasional date with a lot of different girls. Riley's not sure if this is any better. Maya's a bit of a player. 

 

The girl of the week's name is Daisy. She is really hot, even Riley can see that. It starts out small, and Riley can tolerate it. But soon enough, Daisy and Maya are snuggling, and hugging, and doing all of those things that Maya should be doing with Riley.

 

Riley realizes, quite quickly, that she's jealous. She also realizes that she might not be as straight as she previously thought. She blushes as she remembers how many times she declared herself, Maya and Zay the straight ones, or just her and Zay later on. She supposes that now it's only Zay. 

 

He's the last straight person standing.  

 

Daisy lasts two weeks, but Riley's jealousy doesn't subside after the break up. Riley doesn't want Maya to have anymore one or two week girlfriends, or, God forbid, one that lasts longer than that. 

 

Riley wants to be Maya's girlfriend. Riley Matthews decides that she's going to confess her feelings to Maya, in the sanctity of the bay window, before Maya can get another girlfriend and block her plans. 

 

Riley realizes that she's not doing this the proper way. She's supposed to come out to everyone, and then she and Maya might (possibly) fall into an easy relationship like Lucas and Farkle did. She's not supposed to go directly to Maya. Riley has always been a follower. Afraid to forge her own path, to make her own ruts in the high, overgrown grass. But this thing with Maya, it's driving her insane. Riley is willing to take a risk, to move against the current if she can find out whether or not her feelings for Maya are requited. 

 

Riley sends Maya a quick text that reads "Bay window. Hella important."

 

"Be there in five," Maya texts back, and Riley's heart does a flip. Maya's coming. Maya's coming, and this will make or break everything. Riley's suddenly not sure whether or not this is a good idea. 

 

Maya crawls in through her window soon after that. 

 

"What's so important?" She asks, sprawling out across her side. 

"I-don't-think-I'm-straight," Riley spits out, so quickly that it just sounds like a garbled mess.

"What?" Maya says. 

"I don't think I'm straight," Riley says, slower this time, softer. 

"Oh," Maya says, softly too. They sit there for a minute or two in award silence. 

"Where are the boys?" Maya asks, trying to add a little levity to the situation, "isn't it supposed to be a big, coming out party?" 

"No," Riley says, "I-I thought this should just be you and me." Maya doesn't speak, doesn't even look her in the eyes. She wonders if she's not making a terrible mistake. 

"You're reason that I realized, Maya," she tells her. 

"You're not making any sense, Riles," Maya tells her. Her voice is strained, pained almost. 

"Maya," she says, "I like you." 

"Of course you like me-" 

"In a gay way, Maya," Riley says in exasperation. 

"Oh," Maya says. That's all that Maya says, and she stares forward at Riley's walls. 

"Maya," Riley says, "please. Say something." 

"Are you fucking with me?" Maya asks abruptly, looking in Riley's eyes. 

"What?" Riley asks, "why would I do that." Maya blushes shamefully. 

"I don't know," she says, "you just always seemed so... _straight_."

"I'm not," Riley admits, "I think that I'm pansexual." She knows that Maya knows what the word means. One of her girlfriends was pan.

"You're pan," Maya says, seemingly taking it all in, "and you like  _me_?" 

"... Yes?" Riley asks. She's afraid. She knows that Maya's a lesbian, but maybe she's never thought of Riley like that. Maybe Riley's the only one that's sullied their friendship. Maya's face lights up. 

"Riley," she says, "you have no idea how long I've wished you would say something like that." Riley's heart stops in her chest, but in a pleasant, excited way. 

"You like me too?" She asks, a little breathlessly.

"Of course," Maya says, "how could I not?" A smile spreads across Riley's face as her heart starts beating faster and faster and faster, like a movie put on fast forward. 

"Can I kiss you?" Riley asks, tentatively. Maya smiles, and answers her with a kiss. 

* * *

 

5. 

 

 

 

The group decides fairly quickly after Riley and Maya start dating that it should have happened a long time ago. The two girls were made for each other. They seem to fit together like puzzle pieces. Zay becomes the fifth wheel, but it honestly isn't too bad. Neither couple acts nearly as lovey-dovey when they're all together. 

 

Zay learns that it doesn't even make him feel lonely. He finds that peculiar. Everyone around him talks about how they always feel like they need to find someone when their friends run off and find significant others. 

 

The summer after freshman year flies by, and soon enough it's sophomore year. It seems like everyone at the school is dating someone. And this doesn't make Zay feel all that lonely, or left out, just more confused. He doesn't understand why it should be a big deal. 

 

The months pass by, and he listens to the boys in the locker room talk about what girl's got them hard this week. He listens to the girls in his classes ramble on about boys they like, and their abs or their eyes or their hair. He even listens to the kids at GSA go on about their own crushes. He doesn't identify with... any of it? Even when Lucas starts trying to get him to talk about whoever he's crushing on. Everyone always assumes that Zay likes someone and just doesn't want to talk about it, or that he's just too young to realize it. He thinks that's a really weird assumption to make. 

 

Then Maya starts trying to set him up with girls, and Zay doesn't feel anything for any of them. Zay realizes, as the months go by, that there's something different about him. He just doesn't know what. 

 

He decides that Riley is the best person to consult with for this sort of thing. He knocks on her door one afternoon, because he is not a heathen. No matter how often his friends tried to convince him he could just use the bay window, Zay has never felt comfortable with that. 

 

"Hey, Zay," Riley says as she opens up the door, "whatever this is seems like a bay window sort of problem." Zay grins. He's never gotten to sit at the bay window before. He starts following Riley up to her room. 

"Are you taking a boy into your room," her father says, pretending to sound threatening. Or at least like he disapproves.  

"Dad," Riley groans, "I have a girlfriend."

"And I'm a gentleman," Zay says, "your daughter is safe with me." Corey laughs at that, and they don't encounter any more resistance on the way up to Riley's room. 

 

Riley sits down on the window seat. Zay waits for an invitation to sit beside her. 

"So," Riley asks, patting a spot beside her on the window seat, "what brings you to the bay window, Zay." He sits down beside her, and sighs.

"I think that there's something," he almost says "wrong with me", but decides against it. 

"I think that there's something different about me," he settles on instead.

"Like?" Riley prompts. Riley is always willing to fix her friends' problems, but Zay knows that he hasn't given her a lot to work with yet. 

"I've never liked anyone," he says, "and I don't want to have sex with anyone... And I think that's weird? I don't think that I'm straight, Riley." Riley sends him a curious look. 

"Why aren't you talking to Lucas about this?" She asks. 

"I don't know," he says, and he means it. Zay feels like this is something he should be able to tell Lucas, but Lucas has always known, instinctively, who he was. He knew he was bisexual before he had a word for it.

  
_And you shot him down_ , a voice in his head whispers. He pushes the memories and the guilt away. 

 

Zay needs to talk to someone who has been confused about their sexuality, and has had to grope their way about in the dark to figure things out. 

 

"What about Farkle?" Riley suggests, "he did even more research than I did. He'd probably be able to tell you what you are just be listening to you talk a minute." 

"Can you imagine how angry Luke would be that I went to his boyfriend about this instead of him?" Zay asks. 

"Alright," Riley says with a bit of laughter, "point taken."  She takes out her phone, and pulls up her google chrome app. 

"You said that you'd never been attracted to anyone?" Riley asks.

"Yes," Zay says. 

"That sounds sort of familiar," she says. She searches something, and reads for a little bit. 

"What did you find?" He asks. She shoves her phone in his face. On the screen is an article about "asexuality". 

"Oh my god," Zay says as he reads a description of himself, of the way that he's always felt. He's never identified so strongly with an article before. 

"Riley," he says, "this is me." Riley's face lights up, as if she's just done something wonderful. It takes Zay a moment to realize that she has. 

 

He isn't broken. He isn't alone. He's just asexual. 

"Thank you," he says, softly. Riley pulls him into a hug. 

 

 

Zay doesn't know if being asexual is something he needs to come out about. It seems really personal, and he's not sure who all will understand. But two weeks down the line, when Maya tries to set him up with yet another girl, Zay decides that the core five need to know. 

 

He waits until Riley invites them all over again. It's just for pizza and movies, but Zay decides it's the best time. They've all come out at Riley's house, that's even where he realized what he was. It would feel like sacrilege to do it anywhere else. 

 

"What are we watching?" Maya asks.

"I vote for  _The Princess Diaries_ ," Riley says. 

"Riley, that's a chick flick," Lucas says. 

"I'm a chick," Riley says, "and my parents bought the pizza." 

"How dare you hold that over our heads," Lucas says. 

"She's holding us hostage," Lucas tells Zay. Zay just laughs, and eats another bite of his pizza. He's not getting involved in this one. 

"How about we watch like,  _Star Wars_ or something," Maya suggests. 

"I haven't seen  _The Force Awakens_  yet," Zay says. 

"You haven't seen  _The Force Awakens_?" Farkle asks him, starring at him as if he's grown another head. 

"Yes, Farkle," Zay says, "we don't all have boyfriends to drag to the midnight showing." Farkle shrugs, and Lucas blushes. Then Riley gets the disk out of the cabinet, puts it in the player and starts the movie. 

 

 

The trailers start, and Zay takes a deep breath. He plops down on the couch beside Riley.

 "When you see how much Disney ruined  _Star Wars_  you'll wish we watched  _the Princess Diaries_ ," Riley tells him. Zay laughs at that, and Riley grins. She likes making other people laugh. 

"Hey," he says, "is it cool if we mute the previews? I need to say something." Riley mutes them immediately, and then all eyes are on him. 

"What is it?" Lucas asks, looking concerned. He looks around at everyone's confused faces, and he takes a deep breath. 

Zay says, "I'm asexual." 

"What?" Lucas asks. 

"I'm asexual," Zay repeats, getting used to the feel of the word on his tongue. He likes it. It feels homey. 

"Like what... Like what plants do?" Maya asks.

"Maya, that's offensive," Riley tells her. Zay realizes that coming out is a whole lot harder when not everyone even knows or understands what you're coming out as. He envies Maya that. They all knew what a lesbian was, so Maya didn't have to explain that. 

"I'm not a plant," Zay says, irritation thick in his voice, "I'm just not attracted to people. No sexual attraction here." 

"I read about that," Farkle says, "like 1% of the population is asexual." 

"I'm a special guy," Zay says he with a shit-eating grin. Lucas laughs at that, and Riley giggles too. Okay, so he's got Lucas, and he thinks that he has Farkle. The only one who doesn't seem alright with it is Maya. 

"It just doesn't seem..  _natural_ ," Maya finally says, "not wanting to have sex." There's an awkward silence in the room. Nobody seems to know what to say. He wonders if they're trying to think of a way to avoid it offending either of them.

"Maya," Zay finally says, gently, "a lot of people say that about lesbians too." He doesn't want to embarrass her. He just wants her to understand where he's coming from. Maya blushes with shame, as she realizes that they're in similar boats. 

"Alright," she says, "I see where you're coming from." He feels a weight lift off his shoulders. He can't tell if it's really acceptance yet, but it's not outright hostility. Zay can work with this. 

"Wait," Farkle says, suddenly the overly excited kid he was before the yearbook incident, "do you know what this means?" Maya sends him a weird look, and Zay, for one doesn't know what Farkle means. Farkle's brain sometimes works on a whole different wave length than his though, so he's not surprised. 

"What is it?" Riley asks. 

"None of us are straight," Farkle says, "not a single one of us."  Maya starts laughing at that, deep and gruff. 

"To the gays!" Riley shouts, holding up her can of Coke. 

"To the gays," Lucas echoes, bumping his against hers. Farkle and Maya bring in their drinks. 

"I'm not sure that I'm really gay," Zay says. 

"You sure as hell aren't straight," Maya says. Zay supposes that's justification enough to shove his own Pepsi into the toast puddle. 

"To the gays," he echoes, and they all laugh. Farkle spots the tv behind them, and realizes that the trailers are ending.

"Unmute it!" He shouts. Riley rolls her eyes, but she grabs the remote and turns up the volume. 

"You're going to love this, Zay," Farkle says, and Zay laughs. He's sure that it's a good movie, but it would be hard to love it more than he loves his friends. 

* * *

 

+1

 

 

 

Corey and Topanga are loving, accepting parents. They love Riley, and they love Riley's girlfriend turned wife, Maya. They also love Riley's bi best friends and Riley's asexual best friend. 

 

And they would love Auggie if he were gay. Honestly, all they want in the world is for Auggie to realize that he's not straight. That would of course mean that he hasn't been all but married to Ava Morgenstern for three quarters of his life. That's all that they're hoping the announcement Auggie's going to make is. He's gay or bi and found a boyfriend, or he's asexual and not interested at all. 

 

That isn't how it goes. Topanga, Corey, Auggie, Riley and Maya gather around the table. 

 

Corey asks, "So what was your announcement, Auggie?"

"Ava and I are engaged!" August Matthews says happily. Topanga spits out her drink.

"Congratulations, Auggie!" Riley Matthews-Hart says, glaring at both of them. 

"Now I finally won't be the most disappointing daughter-in-law," Maya says with a big, devious grin. 

Topanga says, "Maya, you've never been a disappointment to us." Corey just glares at her. 

"This is no time for jokes, Maya," he says. Auggie glares at all of them. 

"I'm engaged, and this is how you're all reacting? How will I ever bring Ava over?" He laments.

"You won't," Topanga suggests, and Corey laughs. 

"Mother," he says, "Please understand. I love Ava. We've wanted to be together forever. We just want to take that next step." Auggie has always been an odd mixture of precocious and childish, but now he just sounds...  _mature_? Who is this and what have they done with Corey's twenty year old son? 

"Auggie," Topanga says. 

"Riley and I will both have wives soon, mom," he says. Riley grins at that, and Maya rolls her eyes. 

"Don't compare me to Ava," she tells her brother-in-law. 

"So... You really aren't gay?" Corey asks, still sounding a little bit hopeful.

"We were hoping that you were gay," Topanga prompts. 

"Nope," Auggie says, "I'm straight as a board. Ava and I are just waiting to set a date." Topanga looks to him desperately with a look that says  _fix this_! 

"Your mother and I think that you two should wait until you've graduated," Corey says, trying to sound calm and reasonable. Topanga looks a little bit less like she wants to tear her hair out.

"I thought that you'd say that," Auggie says with a devious grin. 

"What did you do?" Topanga demands. Auggie takes out his phone, and plays the voice memo he just recorded. 

"Your mother and I think that you should wait until you've graduated,"' recording-Corey says. 

"Now I've got proof that you agreed," Auggie says, looking satisfied with himself. 

"I can't believe I got played by my own kid," Corey says, looking at his food in disgust.

"Don't worry," Auggie promises, "I won't bring this back up until I've graduated. _Then_  we can plan the wedding."

"Are you two even engaged?" Topanga demands.

"Of course," Auggie says, "we've been engaged since I was five." Maya cracks up at that, and Riley does too. Corey glares at them this time.

"You two aren't helping," he says, and then they just start laughing louder. 

 

Maybe, in the two years before they graduate, Auggie and Ava will break up. Maybe he and Topanga will get lucky where they haven't for fifteen years. He thinks it over, and realizes something. They're totally fucked. 

 

Why couldn't Auggie have just been gay? Or fallen in love with a nice girl? Or really, anyone but Ava Morgenstern? How did they end up being this unlucky? 

 

Corey hears the door swing open, and a woman's voice says, "I'm here, Auggie!" Riley and Maya burst out laughing, Auggie smiles widely, and Corey considers bashing his head against the wall. Topanga groans. 

 

Their worst nightmare sings, "I'm Ava Morgenstern!" 

**Author's Note:**

> Zay is asexual and aromantic, but he didn't discover the second word and thought that asexual covered it all.
> 
> Farkle and Lucas's definitions of bisexuality are a little reductive, because the definition that most of the community uses is "romantic or sexual attraction to people of any sex or gender identity" not just "guys and girls".
> 
> I'm not going to beg for comments, but I will strongly hint that I love them.


End file.
